The papers of George Bell extend over his entire career. Although some of the papers relate specifically to the administration of the diocese of Chichester, the majority of the collection encompasses a much broader arena: the Church of England in general; the Anglican Communion; International Affairs. The papers illustrate, for instance, his contribution to religious drama by his sponsorship of the Canterbury Festival, his involvement in the ecumenical movement with the formation of the World Council of Churches, his involvement with the German Church struggle during the 1930s and friendship with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, his championing of the needs of refugees with the setting up of the Church of England Committee for Non-Aryan Christians, and his condemnation of carpet-bombing of German cities during the War.
Volumes 1-64 are known as the German Church Papers although their coverage extends beyond the political and religious crises affecting Germany from the 1930s onwards, and includes the early conferences of the Universal Christian Council for Life and Work, beginning with the first held in Stockholm in 1925, extending also to post-war Germany.
Of the remaining volumes, 65-183 cover discrete subjects, those from 65 to 117 relating to international and ecumenical affairs, and the remaining volumes 118-83 concerning the internal affairs of the Church of England or more broadly the Anglican Communion. The subjects are usually self-explanatory.
The remaining papers comprised numerous small files of correspondence with a variety of individuals, extending over thirty years. These have been sorted and bound up. Early papers comprise personal and family correspondence. The first seven volumes (184-90) span his education at Westminster and Oxford, his curacy at Leeds, his return to Oxford as tutor and fellow at Christ Church, and his appointment and tenure as chaplain to Archbishop Davidson (1914-1924). Subsequent volumes date mainly from Bell's appointment as dean of Canterbury (specifically volumes 191-202, beginning with his appointment in 1924), also covering his episcopacy at Chichester (203-18, beginning with his appointment and consecration in 1929), until his death in 1958.
Volumes 219-38 relate to his publications: the majority of these concern his work on his monumental biography of Archbishop Randall Davidson published in 1935 (221-37). The sequence includes original correspondence with the Archbishop submitted in answer to Bell's request for letters and information on Davidson. Also included are are draft chapters of his biography some of which include royal annotations and amendments.
The remainder of the Bell Papers comprise diaries and journals, 1914-58, and notebooks, especially of overseas visits and conferences (239-306), sermons, 1909-1958 (342-55), and newspaper cuttings, 1923-58 (356-66). There follow two volumes of correspondence of Henrietta Bell following her husband's death, and the publication of his biography by R.D.C Jasper in 1967 (367-68).